SHOW connects directly to laptops, mobile phones, portable media players (PMPs), digital cameras and other mobile devices to project large, high-resolution images and video onto any surface. The images projected can range anywhere from 12 inches (30 cm) to 100 inches (2.5 m) in size depending upon the projection distance and are always in focus. The production version of the device is expected to offer approximately 2.5 hours of continuous battery life, sufficient to watch a full-length movie without a need for recharging.

Microvision says that SHOW can project a widescreen, WVGA (848 X 480 pixels), DVD quality image — offering a very different experience from the tiny 2-inch display solutions available today on various portable devices. Designed for viewing high-quality projected images in a variety of controlled lighting environments, SHOW offers more than five times the resolution compared with competing miniature projectors that typically only offer QVGA resolution (320 x 240 pixels).

I am blabbering on about this because there is perhaps something there, not only in terms of costs (these things will be teeny fraction of the cost of a monster plasma or LCD), but also size, as they are extremely portable, and small enough to tuck into places and truly hide them. I don’t have an application in mind, but someone clever will.

There wasn’t info on how bright these things are, but they use lasers, not bulbs. No idea how long production versions will last, either. But given the target market for these little Pico projectors is handheld devices, you’ve got the potential to have 3G connectivity and the display projector on a device that can be set up in secconds and steadily updated.

If they really can push a good image, guerilla marketers everywhere will be rubbing their mitts with glee.

2 Comments on “A projector the size of a BlackBerry”

I think back to all the demos I went on lugging 2 or 3 of the 20 to sometimes 50lb VGA projectors, dazzling people with these magic boxes that kicked out 190 lumens and could be all theirs for just $9,000.